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<h2><a name="SECTION0011120000000000000000"></a><a name="csv-fmt-params"></a>
<br>
9.1.2 Dialects and Formatting Parameters
</h2>

<p>
To make it easier to specify the format of input and output records,
specific formatting parameters are grouped together into dialects.  A
dialect is a subclass of the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class having a set of specific
methods and a single <tt class="method">validate()</tt> method.  When creating <tt class="class">reader</tt>
or <tt class="class">writer</tt> objects, the programmer can specify a string or a subclass
of the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class as the dialect parameter.  In addition to, or
instead of, the <var>dialect</var> parameter, the programmer can also specify
individual formatting parameters, which have the same names as the
attributes defined below for the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class.

<p>
Dialects support the following attributes:

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2028' xml:id='l2h-2028' class="member">delimiter</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used to separate fields.  It defaults to <code>','</code>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2029' xml:id='l2h-2029' class="member">doublequote</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Controls how instances of <var>quotechar</var> appearing inside a field should
be themselves be quoted.  When <tt class="constant">True</tt>, the character is doubled.
When <tt class="constant">False</tt>, the <var>escapechar</var> is used as a prefix to the
<var>quotechar</var>.  It defaults to <tt class="constant">True</tt>.

<p>
On output, if <var>doublequote</var> is <tt class="constant">False</tt> and no
<var>escapechar</var> is set, <tt class="exception">Error</tt> is raised if a <var>quotechar</var>
is found in a field.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2030' xml:id='l2h-2030' class="member">escapechar</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used by the writer to escape the <var>delimiter</var> if
<var>quoting</var> is set to <tt class="constant">QUOTE_NONE</tt> and the <var>quotechar</var>
if <var>doublequote</var> is <tt class="constant">False</tt>. On reading, the <var>escapechar</var>
removes any special meaning from the following character. It defaults
to <tt class="constant">None</tt>, which disables escaping.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2031' xml:id='l2h-2031' class="member">lineterminator</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The string used to terminate lines produced by the <tt class="class">writer</tt>.
It defaults to <code>'\r\n'</code>. 

<p>
<span class="note"><b class="label">Note:</b>
The <tt class="class">reader</tt> is hard-coded to recognise either <code>'\r'</code>
or <code>'\n'</code> as end-of-line, and ignores <var>lineterminator</var>. This
behavior may change in the future.</span>
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2032' xml:id='l2h-2032' class="member">quotechar</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used to quote fields containing special characters,
such as the <var>delimiter</var> or <var>quotechar</var>, or which contain new-line
characters.  It defaults to <code>'"'</code>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2033' xml:id='l2h-2033' class="member">quoting</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Controls when quotes should be generated by the writer and recognised
by the reader.  It can take on any of the <tt class="constant">QUOTE_*</tt> constants
(see section&nbsp;<a href="csv-contents.html#csv-contents">9.1.1</a>) and defaults to <tt class="constant">QUOTE_MINIMAL</tt>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2034' xml:id='l2h-2034' class="member">skipinitialspace</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
When <tt class="constant">True</tt>, whitespace immediately following the <var>delimiter</var>
is ignored.  The default is <tt class="constant">False</tt>.
</dl>

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